As some may already know, our friend Mr Lim from Cakra shipping has had his boat impounded by Indonesian customs, and according to his last email (21/10/15) he may not get it back for some months.

This put a spanner in the works for me as I was about to ship Medan to Penang with him, so i've found an alternative.

There is a high speed passenger ferry from Tanjung Balai (~150km east of Medan) to Port Klang every day, which will also take a motorbike for a fee.

The company is called Jetstar Atlantic, look them up with google maps in Tanjung Balai, the address is correct. They will most likely pass you onto a shipping agent called Mr Ade ph +6281362274003 who is well connected with the harbour, customs and immigration, so carnet stamping and passports etc was really easy.

Mr Ade quoted me 3 million rupiah (AUD$300) for two people and one bike (note that the passenger tickets are actually only RM15), but on the day we loaded he asked for another 1 million rupiah for loading and unloading. Eventually we settled on an extra 0.5 million rupiah for the port fees on both ends, we shook hands and the boat sailed. 4 hours later we arrived in Port Klang and were unloaded.

The loading and unloading is not for the faint hearted, it's all done manually over the pier, sometimes across a sizable gap to the bow of the boat. 6 people to lift a KTM 950 is just barely enough...

Anyway, once in Malaysia, we were of course asked for another RM150, no option to negotiate that one.

So I swore a little, paid up and rode away.

If anyone is going to follow our path, I'd suggest refusing to pay anything for loading (or something less than $25) as i feel like Mr Ade is already making quite a lot on the deal, but you'll have to pay the fee on the malay side, just get an invoice for it.

You could also try to do the lot on your own and no doubt save a lot of money. Customs is just past the port in Tanjung Balai (see below), and the guys there were friendly and familiar with the carnet. On the malay side it's really straight forward.

I was annoyed that Ade promised me that he'd pay the charges in Malaysia, so if you're offered the same thing dont believe it. In Malaysia the customs guys told me that several people arriving from indonesia were told this, but it's not correct.

Any other questions just message me, it was a simple enough crossing, and nice to travel with the bike, but bring some rope or tiedowns if you have them as the rope they used was pretty lightweight.

There is a boat every day, and as i understand it there is one big boat, and one small one, we got onto the small boat, but it could only carry one bike so if you're a group ask which boat is going on the day you want to ship, or you may have to wait a day in Tanjung Balai (not the nicest town).

Also, Jetstar Atlantic have a hotel of sorts above their offices, small dirty rooms, but for $3 a night you cant complain too much.

Some GPS coords for you...

Customs in Tanjung Balai (the ferry terminal is across the road, 50m away)
N 02.99929 E 099.81701
Ferry Company Tanjung Balai
N 02.96360 E 099.80212

Ferry Terminal (including customs and immigration) in Port Klang
N 02.99970 E 101.39095

There's some pics on our blog if you want to see the boat and tie down arrangement.

dinosal.com | dream explore discover

Thanks for this info. Would be great if there were a simple ro-ro ferry between Malaysia and Indonesia but at least this sounds like a workable solution.

Hope the ongoing haze situation isn't too bad for riding and if you need any KL info, give me a shout.

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Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

Thanks for the brilliant write up. Mr. Lims boat is still impounded (29/11/2015) We will give this a shot late December from Indonesia to Malaysia.

Will keep everyone posted.

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on the road NZ to GER - check our blog @ www.charowo.net

In Malaysia getting bored, rode from Switzerland to KL, thinking of jumping on that ferry... If I do I'll let you know, in the mean time would love to hear reports...

Hey, if you're bored, will be meeting a few travellers tomorrow night in Sids Handlebar, just off Jalan Maarof in Bangsar (less than 5 min walk from the LRT). Welcome to join if you are free

just google location of American Chopper as its next door to the bar

__________________
Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

Hello Max and Mike

I,m currently in Port Klang and are about to Meet Mr One dollar from Aseantex about shipping across too Indonesian.
Also just visited Aerospeed and their 1535 ringgit fee.
hope to find use tonight at the bar , just booked into a hostel online in KL.

Got a time?

Regards Bryn

Tennants Motel about 10 min straight up the main road from Port Klang ferry terminal, on the left. If you go past the McDonalds on the left you've gone too far. Good spot for a night or 2 before or after ferry crossing.

Sent from my SM-T330 using Tapatalk

We've just loaded our two bikes onto the "Onion boat" for the journey from Malaysia to Indonesia yesterday. For some reason we got charget 783 per bike - we were told something about us not leaving the bikes and bringing them to the pier ourselves. Not sure how it worked for anybody else. We got really delayed though and loaded our bikes around 10 P.M. to the sides of the boat - looked rather safe.

Anyway, just make sure you make it to his office any Tuesday, loading happens on Wednesday, then they leave the port on Friday arriving to Indonesia on Sunday, making the bikes available for pick up on Monday.

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ČZ 150C Czech Republic to Australia 2015 - 2016 @ facebook & wordpress

Great , Mr Lim is back in operation. yahoo

Hope it stays that way.

I missed out on so much adventure , flew my bike home from Malaysia.
With 300km of getting back home I had to replace a head gasket that was bubbling oil and dropping it all over my left hand boot, gear neutral switch that I had to by pass to start the bike and then a bearing broke in the gearbox when noises got really bad.
All things that would have made my planned time in Indonesia so much more adventurous.

Bearing Job was a US$100 repair somewhere else that lasted about 5000km then cost US$700

Jealous man, Indonesia I found for myself to be the most friendly South East Asian country.

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I just made the crossing from Belawan, Indonesia to Butterworth, Malaysia on the new onion boat. Turns out Mr Lim's last ship, that was impounded, was destroyed by customs for apparently carrying illegal cargo to Indonesia. The new boat makes one crossing every week on the same days (schedule for Indonesia below)

Shipping costs were 1.6 million IDR to Mr Adnan (I thought this was pretty steep but Mr Lim said that Adnan is actually just a clerk at customs in Belawan, not the shipping agent, and needs to pay a few people off to get the bikes on the onion boat without a fuss). It was easy enough on the Indonesian side, Adnan takes care of everything and you just sit around like a bored child. He bought me a bottle a coke to keep me entertained. Unfortunately it took about 4 hours in customs due to Ramadan and a department meeting.

The actual shipping agent in Belawan was a dingy, little office opposite the port. The girls at the office spoke very good English, but I'm not sure you would be able to bypass Adnan to organise it. Mr Lim said it would be too hard. The details regardless:

PT.SINAR SURYA MALINDO

JL. KAPTEN R.SULIAN NO.15B BELAWAN

SUMATERA UTARA,INDONESIA 20412

TEL/FAX : 6945045

Shipping costs were 803 MYR to Mr Lim. Lim was fantastic to deal with, real nice guy. Sorted out customs quickly and whisked you around the port on his little scooter.

IMPORTANT TO WEAR LONG PANTS AT BOTH PORTS

Weekly Schedule
Monday: Meet with Adnan at around 11am in Belawan, sort out paperwork, drop bike off at warehouse, receive Bill of Lading from the Indonesian shipping agents
Tuesday: Bike is loaded on to the new onion boat, the Golden Lestari, and sets off for Malaysia
Wednesday: Bike arrives at Butterworth Wharves in Malaysia, gets unloaded
Thursday: Meet Mr Lim at his office in Penang at 10am, do the Malaysian customs runaround with Lim, took about an hour to get my bike

Contact
Mr Lim:
cakrashipping@gmail.com
+60 (0) 124 709 717

2nd Floor, 187 Lebuh Pantai, Penang

Mr Adnan:
+62 (0) 813 7098 0743

No office, he just takes you to a warung to organise paperwork before heading to customs

I just sent an email to Lim. I wonder if he is still in business, I'm on the way to Australia and currently stuck in Malaysia.

if anybody is nearby and want to share a container from Timor to Darwin at the end of November, let me know!

Has anyone done this lately?
Is this service still available?

I am planning to be in Indonesia and need to transport myself and my bike to somewhere in Malaysia.

Just in the planning stage now, will be passing this point mid December this year.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

After not being much possibilities for a (Covid-19) while there is now a traveller who found a possibility for shipping a motorbike Indonesia to Malaysia. The opposite way should be possible too I guess, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The shipping is from Teluk Nibung (near Tanjung Balai) in Sumatra - Indonesia to

Port Klang in Malaysia. We dont know all the details yet - but here is the travellers post on the Indonesia overland forum on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Indo...6050877434350/

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....